music

20 July 2005

Veritas

Such a lot of noise in the popular press about establishments where the food itself command marginal interest. Such at least we have find to be the case at Alto, the Modern at MoMA and Cru: all terrifically overrated in terms of food. Veritas however, in spite of its low-key approach, deserves far more praise and accolades that it's accorded. A recent dinner began with a 1999 Gruner-Veltliner: FX Pichler's gorgeous "M".

Amuse was squid with eggplant caviar
- wonderfully smokey and complex with a great play of the textures
against eachother - that had great appeal in spite of a general disinterest in eggplant. Next came our bid for what constitutes the city's best sweetbreads; then black bass and scallop
mains, both in foams. The scallops were perfectly browned and
yet not at all overdone with well balanced flavors in the sauces. If you've ever wondered why so much fuss has been made over foams that so seldom taste of anything, Veritas' inimitable chef Scott Bryan is here to convince you that they can impart as much interest in flavor as they do in texture.

We
shared a cardamom ice cream on lemon and blueberry tart for dessert and
forwent the second - the prefixe is a huge quantity of food. I love
this underhyped, understated place...which in spite of its kind of
formal appearance remains fun and not at all stuffy.